by Dante Steel
“Yes, Olivia?”
“I think you may need to take care of a certain issue first.”
“Hmm?”
"You're clearly distracted by something hard." She winked. "Take care of that, and we can try again."
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her if she wanted to help him, but he couldn’t. Doing so would feel too much like a betrayal to Nicoletta after last night. He needed to talk to all of them before he could make a move on another one outside of Nicoletta. Flirting was one thing, but to go farther than that would be too much. He wasn’t about to push his luck. If there was a right way to go about this, he was going to try his damnedest to find it.
“I-I think I can manage,” Gary said. His cheeks felt flushed, and he doubted he could hide his embarrassment from her.
“Go ahead. If I know guys, and I do, an erection that hard needs to be handled.”
Gary nodded and rushed to the tavern. He went into one of the upper rooms, closed the door, realized there was no lock, and leaned against it. His hand gripped his cock, and Gary imagined all kinds of sexy fun times with the girls. It was embarrassing how quickly he came, and what was worse was the mess he made. It took him longer to clean up, but eventually, he made his way back downstairs and out of the tavern to where Olivia was waiting. She had tied her skirt back up, probably because of how hot the day was. Could she feel the heat from the sun? Because it was impressive today. Gary greatly preferred summer to winter. Would the seasons change in the game if he stayed in it long enough? He knew Haru and his team were working on a way to get him free, but Gary couldn't bring himself to feel much hope on that front.
Olivia grinned. “How do you feel?” she asked.
“Better,” he muttered.
She giggled. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “It’s flattering.”
“It is?”
“Yes.” She held up her hand, a rock in her palm that was much bigger than the pebble had been. “Go ahead.”
“Seriously? You’re going to make it harder on me now?”
“I think all I have to do is something like this…” She dipped her other hand down the cloth of her top and tweaked her nipple. “…for you to become harder.”
Fuck, that was true. Gary was hard again all right. What the hell? He wasn't sure how he could have an erection already.
Olivia grinned and winked. “See? Do I know you, or do I know you?”
“I’m just a typical guy,” he muttered. “Nothing special.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s true.”
“What’s so special about me?”
"You've overcome a lot."
“You’ve been talking to Nicoletta.”
"Yes. You aren't mad, are you?" Olivia asked, sounding worried. "I was curious. You don't talk about your past a lot, and I was curious."
“I just don’t want to be defined by my past.”
“And I think that’s wonderful. Trust me, I understand that completely. We can’t forget the past entirely, though. It molds us and can either make us stronger or break us entirely.”
“We’ve both grown stronger.”
“Yes, we have.” Olivia held out her hand even closer toward him. “While you were busy, I went ahead and quick did some research. There isn’t a lot of info available on telekinesis in this game, but it seems that you can actually manipulate matter once you get a high enough level. It’s more than just lifting items.”
“That sounds crazy powerful.”
“It is. You need to master it if we run into the wizard guy again.”
“I have a feeling we will.”
"Yeah, me too. When I fly, it's a matter of… It's hard to explain, but I almost have to come outside of myself. Become someone else. I have to don the persona of a hero to tap into it. It might sound crazy to have to do that, but it's the only way I can try to overcome my fear of flying. I become someone else to use the power. I'm someone who isn't afraid."
“Like Oliver Queen becoming the Green Arrow.”
“Exactly.” She grinned. “I can’t believe we have to use our real names in this game.”
"Maybe once we become a superhero, we can have a code name."
Olivia tapped a finger of her free hand to her lips. “I hope that’s the case! I need to start thinking of one already.”
“You think on that. I’ll move that rock.”
“That’s the spirit!”
For a full hour, Gary tried to use his power. A full hour. Olivia never complained. She didn’t move outside of winking, smiling, or laughing. The girl gave him words of encouragement. Honestly, she gave him more than enough for him to be able to handle this.
But he couldn’t. Why not?
Finally, roiling anger burst out of Gary. He was furious and frustrated that he couldn't do this, and he mentally lashed out at the rock.
The rock didn’t roll. It didn’t float. Instead, it shattered. The shards didn’t fly out as pellets to harm anyone. The rock just broke apart, and the pieces fell into her palm.
“Well, that was something,” Olivia said with a wink. She jumped up and down and gave Gary a big hug. “What did you do that time?”
“I channeled anger,” he said.
“Ah, emotions. Anger and telekinesis? Should your hero name be Carrie?”
He frowned. “Uh, no.”
“Why not?” She giggled. “Want to try again? Maybe if you channel a different emotion, you’ll be able to levitate items.”
“Like your skirt.”
Olivia wiggled her hips. “Maybe you have to be horny to do that,” she teased.
He smirked. Being horny didn't accomplish that, although he was still horny. Gary tried to be happy, but that emotion was fleeting. When his thoughts wandered, and he turned more to despair and depression, then he was somehow able to tap into the rock. Gary could feel it, feel its cracks and indentations, feel the tiniest spaces inside. By concentrating on those spaces, he was able to lift the rock slightly, maybe not enough for Olivia to know he had, but he knew.
Immediately, he tried to tackle her skirt the same way. His grim determination got in the way of his depression, but all he had to do was think about if Elena or Nicoletta wasn't up for the harem, and he felt so lost that he could connect with the skirt. There were so many more holes woven into the material than in the rock, and when he strengthened that connection, the skirt flew up to reveal that Olivia was wearing the skirt as if it were a kilt. Namely, he could see everything. He was surprised the developers allowed this, especially considering how shaved she was, with only a small line of hair down the middle. He hadn't been with a lot of women. Gary had never seen anything like that before, and his balls started to ache.
Olivia waited longer than Gary thought most women would before pulling her skirt down. A few other gamers had looked over, but she apparently didn't care.
“I’m so proud of you, Gary!”
She sauntered over to him, closing the distance between them, and hugged him tight. Was it his imagination or was she rubbing against him? Oh, yeah, she definitely was, and he couldn’t stifle his groan.
Olivia giggled. “Sorry, love. Didn’t mean to get you all hot and bothered like that.”
“Oh, okay. I might believe that except for the whole no panties thing.”
“That was just a bonus perk for you doing it.” She winked and embraced him again. “I have to get going. I’m sorry.”
“Already?”
“Don’t worry.” She giggled again, covering her mouth. “If you get really good at telekinesis, maybe you can give yourself a mind job instead of a hand job.”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Really?”
“Oh, come on, like you didn’t think about doing that!”
“Honestly, I didn’t.”
“But now you’re considering it, aren’t you?” She leaned in close, pressing her boobs against his chest.
“May-be,” he admitted.
Olivia just gave him a look. “Do I know you, or do I know you?”
>
“Why do you have to go?” he asked. A wave of loneliness hit him worse than the jolts from when the game had only been a game.
“I have to work on a paper.”
“Damn. I was hoping to drink with you.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “It’s a little early to be drinking,” she pointed out.
“I know, but…” He wanted to know more about her past, but he wasn’t willing to ask her unless she was open to it, and he had a feeling that drinking might make things easier for her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back and play with you more. You going to play while I’m gone?”
“Of course.”
“I mean…” She smirked as her gaze lowered to his bulge.
“Maybe.”
Would he ever stop being embarrassed? How could she have so much self-confidence? He envied her. She was so completely at ease with her sexuality, and that made her that much more attractive to him, even more than her looks. Even if she didn’t look like her avatar, he knew he would still be attracted to her just based on her personality alone. She had the goods.
She eyed him. “Are you all right? You should be happy.”
“You’re leaving me.”
“To have some fun. Trust me. I would rather be playing this game or else pleasuring myself than writing this stupid paper, but I can’t put my life on hold. I can only play for so long.”
“I know. Of course.” He hesitated. “You must think I’m a bum.”
“I don’t think that at all,” she assured him. “But I really do have to go.”
“Bye, Olivia.”
She wiggled her fingers in a cute little wave. “Tootles!”
And she was gone. Gary missed her already.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The days blended together, and Gary grew in levels, grew in power, and grew closer with each of the females. Unfortunately, he was never alone with Nicoletta to talk to her about their having sex. Likewise, they were never all three there that Gary might possibly have the courage to speak to them about the whole harem thing. Honestly, that wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, but if he did want that—and he did—then it would have to be broached eventually.
Every night, Gary had vivid dreams. He couldn't count the number of times his dream self had sex with each of the girls, sometimes as threesomes, sometimes all three, and sometimes just one on one. Once, Gary even watched as Olivia and Elena got it on. Every morning, he would wake up hard as a rock, and he would have to rub one out. Every single morning.
Sometimes, Haru would stop by, although he never had any good news to share. Honestly, Gary was beginning to hate the man.
This night, however, Gary waited immediately for the Japanese man to show. Nicoletta had told him earlier that day that rumors were swirling about Smaug in the gaming community. A handful of players were trying to take him out, but every group that had tried so far had been killed. Worse, Smaug had maintained his friendship with that terrible dragon. He rode it everywhere, had tamed the dragon, and even could get it to belch fire where and when he wanted the beast to. As if Smaug needed more fire than the flames he already possessed. It was overkill.
Eventually, when Gary was starting to doze, Haru approached.
Gary yawned and stared up at the man from his bed. He had taken to sleeping in the inn at night in one of the unused rooms void of NPCs. So long as Gary didn't pay for the room, he could actually sleep there. He should've done this all along, and he did tend to leave a few coins in the room every night to pay for his stay, but so far, no one had collected his payments.
“I was ready to sleep,” Gary grumbled. “Took you long enough.”
“Maybe I have news for you,” Haru said smugly, holding his hands behind his back.
“You can get me back home?” Gary asked eagerly.
Already he could think of the get together he and the girls would have. They could meet him… Virginia? Maryland? Somewhere like that, get one hotel room, one bed, enjoy getting to know one another…
“I’m afraid not, but we have learned about Smaug, who he really is.”
“Oh. Great.” Gary didn’t even bother to try to hide his disappointment, and his tone could not be more sarcastic.
“It is great,” Haru said, but then he grimaced. “To a degree. Smaug is a genius hacker whose name is actually Samuel August.”
“I could’ve guessed that considering he hacked his body into the game,” Gary said dryly. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“How about this? Samuel August is wanted for murder. We believe that he has escaped into the game to avoid trial, and we all consider him very dangerous. You must avoid him at all costs.”
“I plan on it.” Gary eyed the man curiously. “Have you been to his place?”
“To Samuel August’s? I have not, but some of my other team members have. They visited his house, and you should have seen the amount of paperwork all dug up on anything and everything. It took several days to pour over all of his notebooks, but it’s clear that he burned his notes.”
“So you have no idea how he got in.” Gary felt so deflated.
“That doesn’t matter. Yes, we were hoping to reverse engineer his process to spring you free, but we always knew that might not work. The technology you have here is not going to be conducive for you to worm your way home without my say so.”
“Without your say so?” Gary scoffed and shook his head. “I don’t think so. I do what I want.”
“I didn’t believe that you wanted to get trapped in this game,” Haru said dryly.
“Maybe not, but it’s not all bad.”
“Ah, yes.” Haru smirked. “At least you have found them.”
"My team," Gary rushed to say, hoping the darkness was black enough to cover his embarrassed flush. Because "team" was more certainly not accurate in the slightest, and he wasn't about to use the "H" word again.
“Without a… team… one cannot survive. You need people to be there with you, for you, so that when times are tough, you are not alone.”
“It’s more than that, Haru,” Gary said. “It’s about friendship, not using them. Don’t you understand that?”
"I understand that you have been clinically depressed and without medication for so long that you most likely believe that you no longer need any medication."
“I don’t,” Gary agreed, “and I hate that you’re reading up on me.”
“We have to examine every angle to determine how you and Samuel August broke free of the confines of earth. Can you tell me what your blood type is?”
“O+.”
“Ah, so not rare and not a match to Samuel August.”
“No! I don’t want to be similar to him in any way.” Gary hesitated, wanting to ask and not wanting to know. Eventually, curiosity won. “Who did he kill and why?”
“Does the reason matter?” Haru asked sharply, his tone surprising Gary as he had never been so harsh before.
“No. I was just wondering.”
“He killed his mother. Sliced her throat, nearly took her head off.”
“Did she abuse him?”
“He said she did not.”
“Did he say why he did it?”
“Because she mentioned that he might clean up better if he shaved and that if he took up a hobby, maybe he would meet someone.”
“And he killed her for that?”
“He seems to be insane and yet coldly calculating in a way.”
“What do you mean?” Gary asked even though he was so disgusted and repulsed by Samuel that he didn’t want to know much more about the man.
“He used her blood to act as shaving cream and then started a hobby all right. He started to prey on women. He did exactly what his mother asked for in the most horrible and terrifying of ways.”
“That’s insane.”
“Some thought him very sane. He had a cult following. Some even stained the right side of their faces to emulate him.”
“Stained?”
“Samuel had a large port wine stain that covered most of the right side of his face. That was some of the reason why he didn’t have a lot of friends, that and because he was a loner.”
“What about his father?”
“He never met the guy. Before Samuel was born, his mother apparently slept around, and she never had been certain who was the father.”
Gary just shook his head. He had no words.
“What amazes me,” Haru continued after a moment of silence, “is that he could have gotten away with the murder.”
“How so?” Gary’s mind was swimming.
"He is thirty years old. He committed the murder fifteen years ago. The police were only tipped off that he was the murderer because he basically told them he did it."
"Why didn't they look into him fifteen years ago? And he killed her when he was fifteen?"
"He did kill her when he was aged fifteen, and he had staged the entire house so that it looked like a botched robbery attempt. He had claimed he hid in the closet as soon as he discovered an intruder was in the house and even peed on the floor to pretend he had been terrified."
“Psychotic.”
“Or genius.”
Gary grimaced, eyeing the man with a sense of skepticism. “You sound like one of his groupies.”
“I am a man who appreciates genius. He is vastly intelligent, and he knows how to work the game so well that I almost think he is hacking it yet from the inside.”
“How is that possible?”
"I honestly have no idea. The equipment he would need is beyond anything he should be able to find here. Genius I tell you."
“If he can hack the game, so can you. Blame it on a glitch, but bring his level down,” Gary urged.
“If he can hack the game, he might retaliate and make himself level five hundred.” Haru shook his head. “We can’t have that.”
“I guess not,” Gary muttered. “What level is he?”
“Nearly three hundred now.”
“That’s insane,” Gary mumbled.
He had been completing as many quests as he could and had finally gained hero status. Level-wise, he was almost one hundred, but no way could he even consider fighting Smaug again. He thought it confusing and even out of character that Samuel hadn’t hunted down and killed him, Nicoletta, Olivia, and Elena considering that the bastard killed everyone else he faced. Then again, Smaug kept that dragon with him at all times, so maybe he allowed them to live because of the “gift” they had given him.